For a long time, endoscopic medical investigations and procedures were conducted almost exclusively in operating rooms or other medical treatment areas. The light sources required for the endoscopic investigations were placed, for example, in racks or shelves that were firmly standing or movable on wheels. With the use of a video camera on the proximal end of the endoscope and later with the introduction of the video endoscope with a video camera on the distal end of the endoscope, a screen was added to display the images captured by the video camera, said screen being set up or suspended in an appropriate place. For documentation purposes, the images taken by the video camera were also fed to a storage unit (video recorder, DVD burner, hard disk drive or the like), which was set up as an additional separate device in the treatment area.
Endoscopic investigations and procedures of medical or non-medical nature alike were increasingly conducted outside of treatment areas installed and equipped for the purpose. Examples include endoscopy in emergency medicine, in veterinary medicine, and a major part of non-medical endoscopy. For applications of this kind, devices were developed that include a light source and image screen and thus make possible endoscopic investigations in combination with a video endoscope or an endoscope with camera head on the proximal end.
These conventional integrated devices, however, have a series of disadvantages. In particular, equipped with foldable screens or feet, they can lack desirable robustness and stability.